Comptroller John Liu said the 5-year contract was submitted by the Department of Education last month to recruit and train teachers from non-traditional backgrounds to become public school teachers.

Liu said Thursday that he rejected the contract for The New Teacher Project because $20 million seemed excessive at a time when the DOE is looking to lay off thousands of teachers.

The New York Times said the contract was rejected on technical grounds, and that the city planned to resubmit the contract within 30 days.

The city told the paper the rejection would hurt a program that recruits teachers to positions that are hard to fill. They include English as a second language and special education.

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